Study of Xylella fastidiosa-host interaction: effect of movement and colonization in plant and transmission by insect vector

Abstract

The Brazilian citrus industry is a strong segment for the country's economy, however, is threatened by several pests and diseases, among them the CVC - the citrus variegated chlorosis - caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, the pathogen of great importance to infect many economically important crops. The bacterium is acquired and transmitted by insect vectors injected directly into the xylem vessels of host plants. It is now known that colonization and biofilm formation by the bacteria are directly related to pathogenicity and positively associated with symptoms of grapevine plants, however, little is known about the process of colonization of this pathogen in citrus. Recently was developed a system of artificial diet for the acquisition of X. fastidiosa that causes Pierce's disease by the insect vector and transmission of vine plants, which significantly expanded the studies of interaction between the bacterium and the vector, but this system has not been used for studies of the interaction X. fastidiosa from citrus - vector. Given the above, the goal is to evaluate the process of movement and colonization of X. fastidiosa (marked with GFP) in plants there are susceptible, resistant and tolerant to CVC by fluorescence microscopy and quantification of the bacterial population in these genotypes by quantitative PCR in real time. Another objective is to implement the system for testing the artificial diet acquisition / transmission of X. fastidiosa from citrus by the vector, opening prospects for advances in epidemiological studies and interaction of pathogen-vector.